Notes from Underground - 250 watt scrog cabinet

[Guest]

Underground

Very nice job in max'ing your yield in a small space!! So, the center of your screen's arc or it's radius is your light. All the buds are more or less an equal distance from the light......what a great idea! And your bud turned out really nice too.

Bh

 

[Dreamscape]

Whats up Underground , I've got a copy of the americanized movie version of that book - good movie. Awesome cab design as well especially with the dish and lighting box.

I was wondering if you could possibly shed some light on what height should you start Scrog training and when should you stop ??

Also by training you mean trimming the branches that will more than likely get little to no coverage under the canopy and guiding the others that will create the canopy through your scrog grid and thats all ? right ??

I was thinking of doing a short veg time of no more than 10 days and flipping to 12/12 but I definetly want to utilize the scrog method...

Also did that fencing come rounded or did you round it yourself ?

Thanks a bunch man ,
~Dream

 

[Underground Man]

thanks Bh, you got it, I am just bending the plant to evenly fit the light. One way for me to maximize yield would be to not do this: so much. I think I am going to cut down before 4/20

So I can fully appreciate the well cured goodness


Hi DreamScape, I've been curious about the movie and have been meaning to order a copy. I guess it has a lot of narration? If you are interested in dostoyevesky short storied you should read "the double" it is very suspenseful.

I put them under the screen when they were probably 9 inches to a foot tall (only because this is when they were positively sexed. ). of course with a round screen they didn't have to bend that much. The fencing came in a roll so it holds a round shape really easily.

When I say training I mean simply guiding the branches so that they spread out and fill out the screen. I didn't do any trimming instead I just pushed all the fan leaves under the screen. I didn't use any kind of ties either I just would push the plant under the screen. I should have vegged longer and stopped training after about 1.5 weeks but I did it for about 2 weeks after the flip to 12/12.

With lots of clones you could signifigantly cut down veg time I'd bet, this being my first grow I haven't ever used them. I need to work out some sort of veg/mother cab.

I think I am improving on my macro technique

Here is the plan grow wise.

tommorow or the next day the buds start going into jars. Sound like a good reason to take some macros

I will build a 4x bigger carbon scrubber. which calls for more pics

I will rearrange the cabinet to accomadate the scrubber and try to figure out how to make the light adjustable
When cabinet improvements are complete I will decide what to do next

 

[Underground Man]

Watch out! its a pic flood. I just can't help myself

Check out these schwag seedlings. They sprouted about a month ago from some seeds and stems I threw out in my backyard last year. They are getting a little to big, I can see the big one from my window so I need to kill them Suprisingly only one of them looks sativa-ish.


Well the buds are pretty much dry




I put all the popcorn buds into jars I will leave the tops off for now. The larger nugs will dry for a day or two more.


This Bud's for me !



Check out my high-tech macro studio. It's got a batwing reflector . The camera lens pokes through the hole in the paper.

 

[hgl]

You are shooting all of those macro and budshot with an A610!!! Its a damn great cameras! omg! I personnally have a FZ5 and in NO WAY I can do something, near to your macro!!! Are you using a lens or something?

Anyway... your buds are AWESOMES ! again. they look tasty as hell!

 

[Underground Man]

no special lens, just the lovely "studio" in the picture above .

Here is what I have learned are the keys to macros with my camera: small aperture, 2 second shooting delay (so hitting the button won't shake the camera), proper white balance, center autofocus and I crop out the edges where there is chromatic abberation.

I am going crazy with the pics because its my first grow and my first digital camera

The smells are great and they are all different. I can't wait to do a proper smoke report

 

[msdtds]

great macros UM. to slide my whole screen out as one unit, i use some heavy duty drawer hardware i found at Home Depot with a piece of malimine. pretty cheap and effective. good luck with your next grow

 

[JH151399-OG]

way cool grow man! How's the papaya? I've had my eye on that strain...

 

[Guest]

Man, I just checked back into this thread again after a few days & wow....
nice macro pics & studio set-up. I like the way you are keeping the light from glaring on the lens surface....UR a clever fellow!!
(either that or a mouse has just bored a hole and is about to steal your bud)

Bh

 

[Underground Man]

How's the papaya?

It's my first grow so it is really kind of hard for me to form an experienced opinion so keep that in mind.

neither exteremely indica or sativa judging from the leaves.

most showed sex at about 25 days from seed, all had shown by about day 35.

I never saw any kind of major defeciency or nuteburn, I was using the lucas formula with soil/perlite mixed 50%/50%.

Hard to say, but untrained they probably would have finished at about 2-3 feet tall

Here are the phenos i ended up with.
A fruity cherry smell, branchy, larger yield, quicker frosting
B weaker fruity bubblegummy smell, smallest yield, slower frosting, slower maturation, smallest yield
C citrusy lemon and buttery smell, bigger buds, more stretchy, larger yield, quicker frosting, quicker maturation
D weaker fruity cherry smell, same growth pattern as A but slightly smaller yield

So far I think C would be the keeper (if I could go back in time), followed by A.

I won't talk about tastes and highs until they have had a proper cure, I'd say until about 4/20

a mouse has just bored a hole and is about to steal your bud

not on my watch I haven't been able to improve much on my technique much I like seeing those dark caves of glistening trichome gems. That's the shot I am trying to capture. I think I need to throw some colored lighting into the mix or something.

to slide my whole screen out as one unit, i use some heavy duty drawer hardware i found at Home Depot with a piece of malimine. pretty cheap and effective. good luck with your next grow

That would be alot easier but I am afraid all that soil would tip my cabinet backwards or my cabinet wouldn't be strong enough to anchor the drawer. I will probably figure out something but not before my next grow

I built a larger carbon scrubber.
10 inch exterior (popcorn tin)
6 inch core (big coffee can)
4 inch connector (normal coffee can)


It was hell trying to cram everything in there again but at least the ducts aren't any more convoluted than they were before. The light moved down 3 inches but thats ok because last grow the pots were propped up about 5 inches. I didn't end up making the light adjustable.


I made this muffler thing as an experiment. Its hard to say whether or not it helps.


Nirvana standard "ice". seeds started soaking about 24 hours ago. 9/10 are showing taproots


I am thinking of using less soil and adding some vermiculite in its place this time around. I need to go buy some soil ASAP

 

[hgl]

Excellent post Underground Man!!!

Your next grow will be awesome!

 

[ogrefugee]

very well done, and not just for a first timer. i too would have vegged a little longer but you know that already...

but think of lst'ing instead of fiming or topping, a lot less stress (less hermy and/or males) with some really amazing results. look into it or pm if you want precise advice

looking great! very respectable indeed

 

[Underground Man]

ok, my situation is changing.

I am moving out to the country this summer to my parents hobby ranch. I will be mostly house-sitting and taking care of some animals so they can go on vacation. It's the classic good news/bad news scenario. Bad news, no 250 watt scrog, good news: this is a great opportunity to grow outdoors.

It was going to be impractical to grow indoors over the summer anyway because of the temps, I like to set my home thermostat to 75-78F to save some money and that is just a little too warm of an ambient temp to cool quiteley and easily, at least in a closet with no venting.

The yield from my last grow should last me a good while, easily until harvest season.

So the point of my indoor endevour now is to sex and clone some individuals to put outside. Later in the summer I will try to put some DPxskunk#1 freebies or some jock horror out.

only 3 ice seedlings have sprouted after all 10 germed. This kind of makes me sad but I have not given up hope on the others, it has only been 8 days since they started germing. I can think of alot of possible reasons for the low sprout rate. I am using MG "moisture control" soil, temps are in the high 80s, I haven't pH'ed my water (it comes out at about 8.) Since the focus is on an outdoor harvest many months away and I have more genetics to try I am not too discouraged. The three that have sprouted are growing very rapidly.




The other day I scraped the scissors I use to cut up buds to smoke. I watched the nature series episode on PBS called "murder in the troop" about baboons. Wow I was completely absorbed by the story. It was great, I hadn't been stoned like that in a loooooong time. haha I also got stoned the other night and watched the first few episodes of my copy of Carl Sagans COSMOS. Did you guys know that Carl Sagan smoked pot?




I shook my trim in a screen coffee filter. It's not very high quality, there is a lot of plant matter, you guys probably wouldn't smoke the lower grades but it's a special treat for this ex-schwag smoker .
higher quality is on the right.

 

[Underground Man]

I am ready to pronounce 4 of them dead. I dug them up and there was no root or anything, just an empty shell. I had dug one up a couple of days ago and it was full of yucky mush.

My diagnosis: root rot

contributing factors:
high temps
hot soil
over watering

solution
less watering
adjust pH (my lazy ass wasn't)
add hygrozyme

if I could go back in time I would flush and sterlize the MG soil before use with seedlings.

(can someone experienced tell me if this sounds right?)

This MG moisture control soil holds alot more water than what I was using previously. I was also watering more because I figured that the high temps would dry the cups out faster. I figured the 50% perlite would protect me from overwatering but i guess not. You can see that there is moss growing on top of the soil, that didn't happen last time.

there are three that have broken the surface but have stalled out. I am afraid that their roots may be toast, oh well we shall see


The 3 survivors are doing ok. I think they are growing faster than last time.





One of them has fallen over and has some discoloration and wrinkling but the new growth looks ok.

 

[Reverend Willis]

Sick & Dying

Sick & Dying

Yo, Uman. My sympathies to you on your loss. I just pronounced 4 of mine dead this morning also. I've been growing in those rubber dirt plugs with great success. This go-round only had 2/7 success rate... 3 popped up (one died) and the other 4 must have rotted. The only difference was in their humidome -- I used a Pyrex dish with a lid instead of the throwaway plastic package that muffins are sold in. Go figger.
My Ice plant turned out to be a male too. Shit happens. I'll take him out back, give him a cigarette and shoot him.
Grow Big.
Rev

 

[Underground Man]

long time no update


3 doing OK, 3 just hanging on but getting better.

the 3 big ones will be transplanted and LSTed very soon. I moved them down from the light a few inches in hopes that they will stretch some to make it easier to take cuts. Yellowing happened very fast but a full dose of nutes seems to have stopped it.

I am still undecided on whether I like this MG soil or not. I may go buy a bag of my old brand again.

A few wierd things to see:


"double-headed" leaf. But there is actually a little runty blade underneath.


2 have growth UNDER the cotyledon. Is that unusual?


The other day I was listening to a dead tape and I heard franklin's tower. Part of it goes: "Whichever way your pleasure tends, if you plant ice, you're gonna harvest wind." I think in this case wind=smoke . Also the song warned me against over-watering "Roll away the dew!" haha sorry for that tangent.

 

[Reverend Willis]

Still sickly?

Still sickly?

Hey UMan. How old are those plants in the red cups?

Have you added anything to the MG besides perlite?

The reason I ask is that I've had good success w/MG + perlite mixes @ 50% ratio for seedlings (water and root stim only for 2-3 weeks).
I have 4 seedlings in various stages. When they get their first transplant @ 2-3 weeks, they will get BOGs soil recipe with a cup of bone meal and a cup of blood meal added to a perlite/soil mix.
Rev

 

[Underground Man]

its just MG "moisture control" and perlite 50/50. Plants are from seed that started germing 20 days ago.

I think the runts and deaths were cause by simple overwatering and slightly high temps.

I was watering more than last time for some reason and the soil was holding alot more water too. THis soil has peat and coir.

The runts are still sickly but will hopefully recover I am planning on taking these outdoor so it is not a major time setback for me.

The three that weren't seriously affected grew more quickly than last grow.

The yellowing kind of suprised me though

I am using chemical hydro nutes so I don't really need the soil to have any nutrients. I think I may stick with the MG but flush it well with the garden hose before use.

 

[Reverend Willis]

Uman, I guess I need to pay closer attention to the soli I buy. I've seen a small bag of something for planting and rooting seedlings at Wally's. So, your seedlings grow in this mix for 2-3 weeks and then they go to another type soil at the first transplant?

If you have added nothing to the mix in the way of fertilizer, and if the bag says it is safe for seedlings -- Perhaps the diagnosis is seedlings that are very sensitive to nutes. Nah, I can't buy into that one either. MJ is too hardy. I'm just a stoner. What would I know.

Why don't you go ahead and flush the seedlings in the questionable soil? You might be able to push out any remaining ferts and give the plants another chance. What's to lose?

Grow on
Rev

 

[Underground Man]

No need for drastic measures. I learned my lesson: don't overwater the seeds. Everyone is doing ok now it seems.


The larger plants are drinking water really fast compared to the runts

I need to get them into bigger pots tomorow for sure.

These gals are pretty stinky (you can smell them in the room). I think i will need to fill my carbon filter up. I was hoping I wouln't have to use it since I'm not gonna flower in the cab. smells nice though

Lookey what I found